HB268: HB268 Education; safety, health, and well-being of students and school communities; provide

House Bill 268, known in part as "Ricky and Alyssa's Law," requires every Georgia public school to install a mobile panic alert system linked to local police and 911 dispatch by July 1, 2026, and to procure standardized building maps for first responders. It also overhauls how student education records, including discipline and delinquency history, are shared and transferred when a student moves between schools, agencies like the Department of Juvenile Justice, and law enforcement, setting strict deadlines and creating RESA "student affairs officers" to resolve disputes over records. The bill funds grants for schools to hire "student advocacy specialists," requires evidence-based suicide and youth violence prevention training starting in the 2026-2027 school year, and mandates a statewide anonymous reporting system by mid-2026. It also updates the Parents' Bill of Rights, revises school safety plan requirements to include behavioral health, and creates new criminal offenses for terroristic threats and acts against schools, plus expands which juvenile cases go directly to superior court. Most provisions take effect upon the Governor's signature.

• Requires every Georgia public school to install a mobile panic alert system ("Alyssa's Alert") connected to local 911 and law enforcement by July 1, 2026.
• Requires public schools to procure standardized building maps and floor plans for first responders, with the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency setting technical rules.
• Creates a state grant program reimbursing local school systems for hiring "qualified student advocacy specialists" to coordinate mental health interventions.
• Sets strict timelines and procedures for transferring student education records, including discipline and delinquency history, between schools, juvenile courts, and state agencies, with RESA officers resolving disputes.
• Requires evidence-based suicide awareness and youth violence prevention training for students starting the 2026-2027 school year, plus a statewide anonymous reporting program by July 1, 2026.
• Creates two new crimes, terroristic threat of a school and terroristic act upon a school, with penalties up to 40 years in prison if serious injury results, and expands which juvenile offenses go straight to superior court.

Public school students, parents, teachers, and administrators; local school systems and RESAs; law enforcement agencies and 911 dispatch centers; the Departments of Education, Juvenile Justice, Human Services, and Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities; and children ages 13 to 17 facing certain criminal charges in juvenile or superior court.

Schools would gain faster ways to alert police during emergencies and clearer rules for sharing student safety and discipline records across agencies, while students and families would see new required training, an anonymous reporting tool, and new criminal charges and harsher court pathways for threats or attacks against schools.

• Part I (Sections 1-1 to 1-3) creates 'Ricky and Alyssa's Law,' requiring panic alert systems and school mapping data by July 1, 2026, with civil immunity for schools that create or use the mapping data absent gross negligence.
• Section 2-1 repeals references to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities as legal custodian of school-age children and updates records-transfer rules for children in state custody.
• Section 2-2 creates a reimbursement grant program for 'qualified student advocacy specialists,' with the number of specialists tied to district enrollment size.
• Section 2-8 replaces the law on transferring students, defining 'critical records' (transcripts, discipline, delinquency adjudications, IEPs) and setting deadlines for their transfer to receiving schools.
• Section 2-15 requires evidence-based suicide and youth violence prevention training for students in grades six through 12 starting in the 2026-2027 school year and a statewide anonymous reporting program by July 1, 2026.
• Section 2-21 directs the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency to build an emergency alert response system and a secure statewide alert system tracking verified school safety threats.
• Section 3-2 expands the list of offenses, including terroristic acts upon a school, for which superior courts have exclusive original jurisdiction over children ages 13 to 17.
• Section 3-5 creates the new crimes of terroristic threat of a school and terroristic act upon a school, with penalties up to $250,000 in fines and 40 years in prison if serious injury results.

1. 2025-04-28Effective Date 2025-04-28
2. 2025-04-28Act 17
3. 2025-04-28House Date Signed by Governor (House)
4. 2025-04-09House Sent to Governor (House)
5. 2025-03-31House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub (House)
6. 2025-03-31Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
7. 2025-03-31Senate Third Read (Senate)
8. 2025-03-28Senate Read Second Time (Senate)

• Holt Persinger (R, HD-119)Primary sponsor
• Chuck Efstration (R, HD-104)
• Houston Gaines (R, HD-120)
• Jon Burns (R, HD-159)
• Chris Erwin (R, HD-032)
• Gerald Greene (R, HD-154)
• Bill Cowsert (R, SD-046)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 4, 2025

   159 yea, 13 nay (2 not voting, 6 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #166

2. FailedSenate voteMarch 31, 2025

   25 yea, 29 nay (0 not voting, 2 absent)

   Adoption Of Amendment #2 By The Senator From The 41st: Senate Vote #347

3. PassedSenate voteMarch 31, 2025

   45 yea, 9 nay (0 not voting, 2 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #348

4. PassedHouse voteMarch 31, 2025

   154 yea, 12 nay (3 not voting, 11 absent)

   Agree To Senate Substitute: House Vote #365

• school safety
• student records privacy
• juvenile justice
• suicide prevention
• panic alert systems